The California Highway Patrol has submitted its report to the district attorney in the January roadway death of Ryan McFall and has recommended charges of driving under the influence and gross vehicular manslaughter against Hollister’s Breanna Stewart, according to a CHP spokesman.
The CHP on Friday announced it had sent the report to the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office. CHP spokesman Jaime Rios on Friday confirmed the recommended charges were DUI and gross vehicular manslaughter. The district attorney’s office did not have the case report on file as of 10 a.m. Friday.
A gross vehicular manslaughter conviction calls for a penalty of four, six or 10 years in prison, according to the penal code.
The CHP arrested Stewart, 19 at the time, after the 3 a.m. Jan. 13 wreck at Union Road and San Benito Street that killed 23-year-old McFall, a 2006 graduate of San Benito High School.
That morning at the accident scene, the CHP conducted field-sobriety tests on Stewart, who would be considered over the limit with any amount of alcohol in her system, and alleged she had been intoxicated. Stewart was arrested after a brief hospital visit and remains out on $100,000 bail.
Rios in February previously alleged the toxicology report showed Stewart did have alcohol in her system, but the officer has declined to disclose the blood-alcohol content. The BAC figure, though, should be included in the report filed with the D.A.
